Bhopal: The BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government has made more than 200 women take ‘pregnancy tests’ as part of their eligibility for "Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah" - a mass marriage scheme where the state government provides a marriage grant of Rs 55,000 per couple, in Madhya Pradesh's tribal-dominated Dindori district, claimed the Opposition Congress, triggering a huge controversy.
While the state government has not yet responded, a local BJP leader said the women were only put through a ‘fitness test’, during which some were found to have been pregnant.
As per reports, the test was conducted before the beneficiaries were to take part in the mass marriage ceremony on the occasion of Akshay Tritiya on Saturday in a town in Dindori, and four women were removed after their positive pregnancy reports.
Under the scheme, the government gives Rs 49,000 to each woman eligible for the marriage scheme and spends another Rs 6,000 per couple for arranging a mass marriage ceremony.
Following this, the opposition Congress sought to know under what guidelines these women were subjected to the tests.
Local MLA Omkar Singh Markam of the Congress said that he received information that women were made to take a pregnancy test and that four women were disqualified from the scheme because of their positive reports.
He said that by conducting such tests, the government has not only insulted the poor women, but also have put their life at risk after releasing their reports.
“This is a violation of their basic rights and an invasion of their privacy. I will raise this issue before the Chief Minister as well as the Prime Minister”, Markam added.
According to Dindori district administration, a total of 219 women from Scheduled Tribes (ST), Schedule Castes (SC) and OBC families were brides in the mass marriage ceremony, conducted in the presence of local leaders and officials.
The controversy escalated further after state Congress President Kamal Nath raised questions over the 'pregnancy tests' of women and demanded a high-level inquiry in the matter.
"I want to know from the Chief Minister whether this news is true. If this is true, then on whose orders was such gross insult done to the daughters of Madhya Pradesh? Do the daughters of the poor and tribal communities have no dignity in the eyes of the CM?" he said in a series of tweets.
District Collector Vikas Mishra told the press that directives were issued during the mass marriage event for detection of sickle cell disease of those taking part. He also said that during the medical examination, some brides had complained of periods issues after which the pregnancy test was conducted.
“There is a miscommunication here. In our district, sickle cell anaemia is a major disease and there are government of India guidelines for doing blood tests. So, whenever we do such marriages, we do this test. In this case, when the tests were being done, five women said they had missed their periods. Then, the doctor did a urine test, that is, a pregnancy test, and in all five cases the test was positive, after which the women said they were already married,” he said.
"There was no directive from the administration to conduct pregnancy tests. The four women who were found to be pregnant were not allowed to take part in the mass marriage ceremony," Mishra added.
However, another district official said as many women have love affairs and these could have resulted in disputes after marriage and it was because of this, that the tests were conducted for making it clear that the couple agreed for marriage mutually.
In a video, BJP district chief Avadh Raj Bilaiya said the tests were done to check for health issues such as sickle cell anaemia.
“Under the Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojana, a medical test is done to check girls’ fitness. In our district, there are many problems like sickle cell anaemia… So, generally, all kinds of tests are done… When the test was done, a few women were found pregnant and, in such a situation, we assumed they were married and we did not allow them to marry,” he said.
While there is no bar on pregnant women availing of the scheme, Mishra said, “The rule is the woman should not be already married. Sometimes it happens that the couple are married and could not avail of the scheme, so they try to get married again to avail the benefit.”
He said the administration does not do any ‘virginity tests’ or pregnancy tests on women who want to avail the scheme. “There are no such tests done by us. The women themselves said they missed their periods.”